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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2019 22:21:22 GMT
Animal activists have called on Taylor Swift to reverse her decision to perform at the Melbourne Cup after it was announced she would sing two tracks from her album Lover in the mounting yard on 5 November. “I can’t wait to come to Melbourne, and I can’t wait to come to the Melbourne Cup,” Swift told the Herald Sun. “Taylor Swift has put money before compassion by agreeing to perform at the 2019 Melbourne Cup,” the group posted online in the wake of the announcement. “Horses are being killed for gambling profits and entertainment. If Taylor Swift cares at all about other animals the way she appears to care about cats, she will cancel her show and make a strong statement that animal abuse is unacceptable.” The chief executive of the Victoria Racing Club, Neil Wilson, said the club was thrilled to have Swift at Flemington for the $8m race. “To think you can come to Flemington and watch not only the race that stops a nation but see one of the world’s biggest – if not the biggest – entertainer perform for the cost of a general admission ticket is phenomenal,” Wilson said. Lover is Australia’s highest-selling album for the year and has generated more than one billion streams in the country already.
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Post by Admin on Sept 14, 2019 17:16:58 GMT
Last year's Melbourne Cup minor placegetter Prince Of Arran could still have work to do to make the field for this year's $8 million race at Flemington. Prince Of Arran formed part of an English-trained trifecta in the 2018 Melbourne Cup when he finished third behind Cross Counter and Marmelo. All three are expected to return to Melbourne this spring but the Charlie Fellowes-trained Prince Of Arran is not yet assured a Cup start after the release of weights earlier this week and the first order of entry on Thursday. Prince Of Arran has 53kg and is 48th in the Cup ballot order while his Caulfield Cup weight of 53.5kg has him 52nd in the order of entry for that race. The Melbourne Cup has a field limit of 24. Prince Of Arran ran in the Herbert Power Stakes at Caulfield last spring before winning the Hotham Handicap (2500m) at Flemington on Victoria Derby Day which clinched him a ballot exemption into the Melbourne Cup three days later.
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Post by Admin on Sept 21, 2019 18:55:41 GMT
Taylor Swift has cancelled her performance at the Melbourne Cup horse racing event in Australia. The Cup announced Swift as its headline act earlier this month, but cancelled on Saturday, citing scheduling issues. The singer had been criticised by animal rights groups, who accused her of "endorsing animal abuse". Six horses have died at the Cup since 2013, including one horse who was euthanised on the course last year after fracturing his shoulder. The Cup's organisers have not confirmed who will replace Swift as the headline act on 5 November. Why did Taylor Swift cancel? On Saturday, Mushroom Events said in a statement that "changes to [Swift's] Asian promo schedule have made it logistically impossible for her to be here" for the Cup. But the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, the group that led calls for a boycott, believes Swift cancelled as a result of their campaign. In a petition posted last week, the group said the singer was "either completely unaware of the cruel reality of horse racing or she has put money before compassion by agreeing to perform" at the races. "If she cares at all about other animals the way she appears to care about cats, she will cancel her show and use her voice to make a strong statement that animal abuse is unacceptable," they added.
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Post by Admin on Sept 29, 2019 6:59:24 GMT
Taylor Swift may not realise it, but she has delivered what could end up being one of the biggest headaches the multi-billion-dollar Australian thoroughbred racing industry has ever had to contend with. While her management claimed "scheduling conflicts" as the reason for her sudden withdrawal from performing two songs at this year's Melbourne Cup, the announcement followed a week of solid protesting from animal rights activists. They campaigned especially hard on social media where Swift's core youth audience spend an inordinate number of hours scrolling down their smartphones. Victoria Racing Club (VRC) executives told me personally last week that Swift had been furnished with a mountain of information about the treatment of horses and had signed on the dotted line for the Cup "eyes wide open". To all intents and purposes, the deal was done and dusted some time ago.
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